Eyes
by MH2002
Summary: They always say that the eyes were the window into the soul. Miguel love's a lot of things about Tulio, but his eyes have to be his favourite. He just wished that his own eyes were just as interesting...


Based on this Prompt:

"I noticed their eyes were pretty. And then I got sad because my eyes are boring and green."

* * *

It had been a long day of hiking for the boy's, Miguel was adamant that the City of Gold was close, but as it was starting to get dark, he admitted that looking for it at night time would be stupid, even for him. So they set up camp in a clearing that gave them a clear view of the stars.

"What made you stare at me that day?" Tulio asked out of the blue, as he and Miguel lounged on their backs, looking up at the stars.

Miguel turned his head to his partner. "What do you mean?" He asked.

"The first day we met. You stared at me for a long time and followed me after I ran away. Why?"

Oh! That day, he remembered now.

_A young Miguel was running down the path that led from his small home to the city market place, he always loved walking through it. So many fascinating things being sold: fresh fruits, jewellery, and he always had an eye on a mandolin that he knew that his family could never afford. There were also so many interesting people you could meet there, he had made a few friends with some of the Stallman, street performers and even some of the local gamblers._

_But when he got there he went straight to the water fountain that was in the middle of the market; running was thirsty work. But as he leaned down to take a long drink he saw his rippled reflection, as well as one of another person, he couldn't tell what they looked like at first, all he could see was black and blue. When he looked up, he saw another boy, probably not even a year older than him, sitting across from him on the edge of the fountain, staring at the water. _

_What he first noticed was the boy had high-quality clothes, clothes he saw on some of the nobles that would sometimes pass through the market on their way to meetings, or whatever rich people did. Then he saw his hair, it was black and almost flowing past his shoulders. Black was not a surprising colour to see as many Spaniard's have black hair, if anything, many people were amazed to see Miguel's golden blonde hair. But there was just something about the midnight black hair that made him want to touch it, it looked like it had been recently washed, a luxury that Miguel could only get every three weeks. It looked so soft; like it would flow like water if he were to run his fingers through it._

_The boy must have noticed him and looked up to meet his gaze, that was when Miguel's breath was knocked out of him; like he had been punched in the stomach. Miguel knew that people with blue eyes existed, his mother said his grandmother had them, but he had never seen them in person before...this boy had the most beautiful lake blue eye's he had ever seen, it was as if he was looking out to sea. _

_When he thought about his own eye's, he felt a little inferior, he had his mother's green eyes and his father's blonde hair, even though he liked his eye's, looking at such pretty eye's made his green eye's feel plain and boring._

_He must have been staring for quite some time because soon the boy's face went as red as a fresh apple before he quickly jumped off the edge of the water fountain and ran into the market crowd. Miguel just looked on with a hurt look on his face, he didn't mean to scare the boy away. Before he knew what he was doing, he too had jumped off the edge and was chasing after the stunning eyed male._

_He was able to keep up with the boy since he knew the market and its back alleys like the back of his hand. While the boy was fast, he seemed like he had no idea where he was going, always frantically looking around at all the ways he could run, after a full 5 minutes of running, the boy finally started to slow down as he got closer to the pier._

_When the boy stopped to catch his breath he looked back, probably to see if Miguel was still following him, and his face visibly dropped when he locked eyes with Miguel._

_"Wait! Please don't run away again. I just wanted to say hi..." Miguel panted out as he got within earshot of the other boy. The other boy flinched back slightly when he shouted but seemed to calm down after hearing his reason for chasing him._

_The boy was fiddling with the sleeves of his shirt, refusing to meet Miguel's gaze, what was wrong? _

_"Oh um... Hi..." The dark-haired boy said in a small voice as he was hesitant to speak up. _

_"My name's Miguel, What's yours?" Miguel asked, setting his hand out to shake the other boy's hand._

_The boy acted like his outstretched hand was going to bite him, looking between the hand and the owner of said hand before slowly putting his own out and gripping Miguel's, shaking it slightly. Miguel didn't want to let go, the boy's skin was so soft, not rough like his own hands, rough from hours of hard work._

_"M-my name is Tulio." The boy stuttered out._

After that day, their lives had never been the same.

"To be honest, I don't really know." A lie. He knew exactly why he had stared and why he had chased after him. But he could never tell Tulio why, if he did then he would ruin their friendship, he couldn't tell him he chased him down because he couldn't let the man of his dreams get away.

"Well, you must have some idea. I know it was a long time ago but you must remember why you chased me, it couldn't just because you wanted to say Hi." Tulio said as he propped himself up on his elbows.

Miguel's mind went blank when he tried to think of another lie to quell Tulio's sudden curiosity. And to satisfy his own curiosity, why is he asking this now? They had known each other for over 10 years, why now on this specific day?

"Tulio, Is everything alright? Why are you asking me this now?" He asked in a low tone, Tulio only ever seem to open up if he thought they weren't going to make it out of a tough situation. Like on the boat a few days ago.

Tulio's eyes widened a little before slowly turning onto his back again.

"Yes, Miguel, everything is fine. I just can't stop thinking about it, you've talked about how you used to go to the market every day when you were younger, just to have some fun. Had you not stopped to take that drink from the fountain, we never would have met. And we wouldn't be in this situation right now,"

... Oh, so that's what this is all about. He knew that Tulio wasn't 100% convinced the city was real but it was better than sitting in a boat with no supplies and no idea where they were going!

"... But, I'm not complaining. We may be in the middle of a land that we know nothing about, with nothing but a crappy map and a horse that eats more than the two of us combined but... At least we're together. Lord knows you'd be dead if I hadn't come with you, so I'm glad you're here, where I can keep an eye on you. Also, the truth is... There would be no one else that I would rather do this with Miguel. You really do make my life an adventure."

Miguel could only listen to the heartfelt words of his partner. The last sentence hit him the most though, he had wondered about their supposed last words spoken to each other when they thought they were going to die in that godforsaken longboat, he, of course, meant what he said, but he had wondered if Tulio had only said that because he felt like he should have.

"You... You know what? I've never asked you why you ran away that day. Did I scare you or something?" Miguel asked in a shaky voice, trying not to reveal that he tore up a little at the heart-warming speech.

Tulio went really quiet after that but Miguel could practically hear the gears whirring around in his brain. Tulio then turned onto his side to face Miguel. Even though it was dark, he could see that Tulio refused to look him in the eye and his cheeks were a faint red.

"I-I ran away because I was embarrassed. I wasn't supposed to be at the market but I honestly wanted to see how other people lived, I worried that my clothes would give me away and when I caught you staring at me with those nice emerald green eyes of yours, I got flustered about how I looked, my stupid clothes, my dumb hair and my dull eyes. And then I ran away... Stupid, I know but... Yeah."

Miguel's eyes widened at hearing how Tulio thought about himself. Everything about the boy that he had fallen in love with all those years ago; Tulio hated. Tulio felt inferior to Miguel's looks. But the thing that through Miguel for a huge loop was that Tulio thought his eyes, his incredible lake blue eyes, were dull. This could not stand. Swiftly Miguel leaned up and set himself over Tulio, gripping him by the shoulders.

"Dull? Did I hear that right? Did you just call your eyes dull?! Tulio, your eyes are like looking out onto a wonderful lake. I stared at you that day because I had no idea that eyes could be so captivating," Tulio was listening with wide eyes and his mouth kept opening and closing like a fish, but he did not interrupt Miguel.

"And I chased you because I couldn't let someone with those kinds of wonderful eyes out of my life. Your eyes made me want you Tulio, if it wasn't for them, we never would have met. And I would rather die in this jungle right now with you then have lived a successful life as the best Adventurer in the world without ever meeting you!" Miguel panted slightly, realising what he had done, he had just poured all of his feelings out for the blue-eyed Spaniard, leaving no room for error about how he felt about him.

Miguel slowly lifted his hands off of Tulio, before standing up. "I-I'm gonna go get some more firewood." Another lie. They both knew that they didn't need any more firewood. Miguel just needed to get away before Tulio could ask any questions. To get away before things got awkward. They could just pretend that this whole thing never happened and wake up fresh tomorrow.

But as he turned around, he felt a hand tightly grip his wrist. Miguel looked down and saw that Tulio had quickly leaned up and was holding Miguel's wrist in a death grip. "Miguel, did you mean that? If you're joking, please tell me you're joking but if you meant it... Please don't leave." The way that Tulio was speaking reminded Miguel of the boy he first met sitting on the edge of a water fountain, soft-spoken and afraid to speak up. This wasn't the Tulio he knew, the Tulio he knew was a fast-talking, steady-handed, resourceful and confident Con Man. Not a little boy who was terrified of what his father would think of him if he made one small mistake.

But Miguel could see something else in those blue eyes he had grown to love, was that... Hope? Was Tulio hoping he'd stay? Or was he hoping that Miguel had meant what he had said? Wait... So did that mean...

"Tulio... Of course, I meant it. Did you mean what you said on the boat the other day?" Miguel had to know. If he did then it would mean so much.

"Miguel, when have I ever said something that I didn't mean? Of course, I meant what I said. If it wasn't for you... God knows where I'd be by now. You changed my life, Miguel."

Miguel looked down at his partner, well that was it. He couldn't take it any more, he had to do it. Quick as a flash, Miguel used Tulio's strong grip on his wrist to pull him to his feet but because Tulio wasn't expecting it, he stumbled forward, throwing his arms out to grip onto the closest thing, which happened to be Miguel's shoulders. Miguel quickly wrapped his arms around Tulio's waist. Holding him close in a tight embrace.

Tulio, after taking a few seconds to recover from the shock, hugged back just as tightly. Miguel pulled back to look up at his long-time partner, looking deeply into the eyes that he adored above anything else.

Slowly, ever so slowly, the two men came together to close the gap between them.

In 1509, two Spanish men discovered the Legendary City of El Dorado, but they found something a lot more important on the trail that they blazed.

They always say that the eyes were the window into the soul, they were lucky enough to look inside and see each other.


End file.
